Time Turning At It's Best
by Misty7books
Summary: After gaining a strong friendship with Hermione and Neville during his Fourth Year, Harry goes to Potter manor and, after finding a rare artifact there, travels into the past with his two friends, one goal on his mind. Save Tom Riddle. TR/HP HP/TR
1. Secret Friendships

_**Chapter 1:**_ _ **(2935 words)**_

 _Dear Prongslet,  
Meet me and Lynx at your local library tonight, around ten. Don't be late,  
Dove_

Harry let out a deep breath as he smiled at the letter. After Dumbledore had done nothing to get him out of the Triwizard Tournament, he had begun to doubt him, and see him in a different light. He wasn't the only one, as he found out later on in the year. After Ron had become a jealous idiot, Harry grew closer to Neville, and began to see him as the brother he never had, and Hermione as the sister he never had.

The three friends remained close after Ron and Harry made up, but his and Ron's friendship was never the same ever again. Well, at least from Harry's point of view. He doubted that Ron even noticed that something was different.

He and Hermione told Neville all about the Dark Lord, which Harry had researched ever since he learned his name during the end of his Second Year. They told him all about the Marauders and the adventures they went on, and the reason Snape despised Harry so very much at first glance, and the truth about Sirius Black, and they grew closer and closer.

They even gave each other special nicknames so that they could communicate with notes, and Harry 'recruited' them as the next generation of Marauders. Sure, there were only three of them, but Harry really didn't want another Wormtail. It was quite obvious to what his own nickname was if you knew James Potter's nickname, but Harry knew that many didn't. Hermione was called Dove due to how she used to always settle arguments between Harry and Ron. She was peaceful and respectful, and incredibly intelligent, so Harry found it a fitting name.

And Neville! His favourite animals had always been cats, but for some reasons he disliked lions, despite being a Gryffindor himself. So, because of that, Harry named him Lynx for being small and easily mistaken for a house cat (Harry still recalled fondly how Neville called a picture of a lynx a 'kitty cat' after Harry showed him a muggle picture book of animals). People always underestimated the boy, and only Harry and Hermione seemed to see past that, and see a powerful young wizard. Only they knew of his elemental abilities. He could control earth and speak to plants, one of the main reasons he excelled at Herbology.

Harry grinned as he remembered his own elemental abilities. He always disliked fire. It was mean and threatening, and could hurt others so easily. But then he realised that it also provided life and health, and warmth and happiness. The reds and oranges and yellows always seemed to frighten him, which was partially why he was so overwhelmed at first when he became a Gryffindor, the red of the house could been seen everywhere! So, of course Harry was delighted to find that when he bended fire, it was a bright emerald green, the same Avada Kedavra shade as his eyes.

Hermione could control water, and she loved how peaceful it was, another reason for her tranquil nickname.

Opening his window, Harry looked outside and wandlessly and wordlessly made his hands stick to the walls outside, and he began to climb down the wall of the Dursley's house. It was never his home, and it never would be what he would see as his home.

The sun had set about half an hour ago, as it was now the end of June, and nearing the Summer Solstice.

It was dark as he silently yet rapidly made his way to the local library, where he had run into Hermione, who was looking for him but found herself at the library. She didn't know where he lived but she knew it was in Little Whinging, so she went there by herself, running away from her parents. They had given her up to the orphanage when they found out about her magic capabilities. Something she liked to keep a secret, but Harry and Neville knew. She lived with Neville now, his grandmother didn't even realise that she was there.

Harry came to a stop as he saw two figures standing impatiently at the library door.

He glanced at his newly fixed watch and saw that it was five minutes past ten.

Whoops.

"Dove?" he whispered, and the two figures perked up, "Lynx?"

"Prongslet? Is that you?" whispered Neville, and Harry nodded. He stepped into the light, and flushed as Hermione and Neville looked up and down at him, and his oversized and worn-down clothes. He rolled his eyes and the three friends walked into the library, which closed at midnight.

"So," he began as they sat at a hidden table at the back, behind a few old bookshelves filled with ancient books that nobody ever checks out, "why have you summoned me on this fine day?"

Hermione then turned to Harry, "Well, I thought of an interesting and new project for us to take on!" Ah, Hermione and her projects.

Sighing simultaneously, Harry and Neville turned to Hermione and waited for her to begin, which she did after gathering her thoughts. "Remember how the original Marauders were all Animagi while still at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah?" Neville responded, as Harry raised an interested eyebrow.

"Well, I thought that we could do something similar! Just imagine how incredible it would be!" Hermione grinned at her two 'brothers'.

Harry suddenly grinned. Although he blamed his parents slightly for fighting in a war while having a child, he would still love to feel closer to them in any way possible, and Sirius too, he hardly sees enough of the lovable mutt. "That's brilliant! Though," he paused for a moment, his grin faltering, "don't we need to brew a really difficult potion for that?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Yes, Prongslet, we do. I seem to recall brewing a Polyjuice potion at age twelve, do you?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Sure, sure. Anything else important to talk about?" Hermione shook her head, but Neville hesitated for a moment. "Lynx?"

"Um," Harry and Hermione gave him supportive smiles and after a deep breath, he continued, "You competed in a Tournament that is for people that are of age. That means that magic could see you as a fully-grown wizard. We should go to Gringotts and find out. Only the purebloods know of the magical test, it isn't very well known. With it, the goblins can see if magic sees you as an adult or not, and you can also see how powerful your magic is." Harry grinned at the thought of being able to do magic outside of Hogwarts, and Hermione leaned forward, happily absorbing the new information.

"When should we do it?" Harry excitedly leaned forward. "I would love to see my family vault!"

Neville smiled, "We can go now."

"Honestly, now?" Hermione sighed and shook her head, as if exhausted with being friends with people who aren't as intelligent as her. Harry sighed silently, knowing that she would feel that way with anyone. Well, except if she was study buddies with the Dark Lord. He had brilliant test results! Probably even better than Hermione! "Can we at least have a good night's rest?"

"Dove!" he made the 'o' sound long as if whining to her. "I can't _possibly_ sleep when knowing that I could do something so amazing as this! Just imagine! Doing magic outside of Hogwarts!" He grinned at just the thought of it.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but sighed, "Fine. Prongslet, go and get your school trunk. Lynx, go with him. I'll call the Knight Bus."

Harry grinned, "Thanks, Dove!" She sighed once more. "C'mon, Lynx!"

The two boys rushed to the Dursleys and Harry used his wordless and wandless magic to climb up the wall again. He turned to look outside of the window after he had climbed into Dudley's old second bedroom, and whispered, "Wandlessly open the door, please. I'll unlock my door and meet you there. Be silent. Please."

Neville nodded, though he looked very frightened at breaking into someone's house, even if they're as horrid as the Dursleys, but he did it anyway. Satisfied, Harry silently walked to Hedwig's perch and pointed to the open window. The intelligent owl nodded and flew outside before landing on Hermione's outstretched arm. Silently, Harry walked to the door and wandlessly and wordlessly opened his locked door. He crept in the shadows down the stairs, especially quiet as he stepped over the creaking step, and eventually, he made it downstairs. He walked to the front door and saw it closed with Neville sighing a breath of release at seeing him.

Harry pointed to the locked cupboard and with a silent wave of his hand, it opened without as much as a creak. Harry always did do the chores properly, even though he would much prefer to put potions into the food he makes for the Dursleys.

He and Neville pulled Harry's school trunk out, and met Hermione and Hedwig outside the door. Neville turned to close and lock the front door, and Harry stroked Hedwig lovingly.

Hermione stuck out her wand and the three friends boarded the Knight Bus. They made their way to London, and once they arrived, they thanked Stan Shunpike and raced into the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione stepped forward, since being a muggleborn witch, most people wouldn't recognise her, even if she was friends with the boy who lived. Harry and Neville would be more easily recognised, both for having aristocratic and pureblood faces, and Harry for being the Boy-Who-Lived, the fourteen-year old champion of the Triwizard Tournament.

"Hello, Tom," she greeted the man behind the bar, and she asked, "I'm just going to Diagon Alley, it's urgent."

The man nodded, and the three friends ran to the brick wall, and Hermione tapped the correct stone. They ran to Gringotts and were happy to see the building empty of human presence other than themselves.

Hermione stepped towards one of the goblins and was about to ask about Harry becoming emancipated when Harry noticed that it was the same one he met all the way back in his First Year. He stood in front of his friends and greeted the goblin, "Hello, Griphook!"

"Mr Potter," the goblin surprisingly stated, "I wasn't expecting for you to remember my name."

"Well, it's the polite thing to do, isn't it?" Harry smiled at them.

Hermione cleared her throat as an interruption and looked at the goblin, "Well, Griphook, we all wish to take an inheritance test, and Harry wishes to take a test to see if magic perceives him as an adult."

The goblin looked at Neville and the boy timidly told it, "The, um, the _Crevit-Usque-Magicis Nito,_ please."

Hermione looked at Neville with awe, and the goblin smiled and nodded before saying, "Follow me," and he lead them to a private room. It was blank except for a table in the middle of the room, and a door at the back. "I will be back in a moment. I must collect the required object to do this rare test," and he walked out of the door at the back.

Harry looked at his two friends and smiled, "You guys are going to do it too, right? I want to see your magic levels."

Neville smiled and nodded his head slightly as Hermione grinned and nodded her head rapidly, wanting to see the test herself. The goblin walked back through the door towards them with a small glass orb in his hand, about the size of the palm of a hand. Griphook gave it to Harry and told him, "Put some of your magic into it. This test not only shows the age magic views them as, but shows how powerful a wizard is."

Harry nodded in thanks and pushed some magic into the little orb. He grinned as he felt his magic, it felt like a comforting fire; large and blazing freely inside of him. Harry looked at the orb as it glowed a deep black, as if it was a black hole sitting on his hand, and then surrounding the black was a dark rich green with a bright emerald green mixed in, probably from his elemental powers. Griphook and Neville gasped, and Hermione raised an eyebrow in interest. The orb eventually dimmed back to ordinary glass soon after. Harry looked up from the transparent glass to the other three beings in the room, "Was… was that a bad thing?"

"No. Merlin, it's the opposite!" Neville grinned at Harry in amazement, "This is incredible!" The goblin nodded silently, seemingly unaware of the world.

Harry looked to Neville and asked, "What did it mean? The colours?"

"The black means that magic sees you as an adult, which is good," Neville explained, and Harry nodded.

"And the two different greens?"

"Well, Mr Potter," the goblin began, taking over the conversation from Neville, "I've never heard of someone with two different colours of magic. It's quite unheard of." Griphook explained some more to Harry, "If it glows white, it means that magic views whoever that person is as a child, and black as an adult. The colours mean many different things. Each magical being has a different colour. The paler it is, the weaker the magic. You had an almost black green, and since you had two colours, that likely means that you are incredibly powerful."

"Wow," Harry breathed. He quickly recovered though, "You two can take the test now if you want."

Hermione quickly stepped forward, and Harry gave her the orb. She pushed some magic into it and a white gleamed at the centre. Surrounding the orb was a deep dark turquoise. There were no other colours, and Harry raised an eyebrow, wondering why he had two different colours when Hermione had her water elemental type. Was he really that powerful? Even if he was, he would make sure not to use that magic and power for bad.

Hermione narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at the glowing orb and Neville explained, "Magic views you as a child, and you're very, very powerful too." Now nervous, Neville grabbed the orb that Hermione handed to him and pushed his own magic into it.

In the centre, once more, was a shimmering white at the centre. Surrounding it was a dark orange, almost black-brown. Neville looked with shock at the orb, "I… I didn't th-think that I w-would even be that p-powerful."

Harry patted his back in support, "We just need to get you a new wand, Lynx, that's all. I always knew that you were stronger than other people thought." Hermione nodded in agreement, and Neville smiled happily at his two friends.

The goblin turned to Harry and informed him, "You now have full access to your family vaults and manors. There is no longer a Trace in your wand, and you are free to do magic outside of Hogwarts. This will be free as Mr Potter is the Black Heir, and you all did the test together. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, the inheritance tests," Harry responded, and the goblin nodded and went back through the back door and he quickly reappeared with three massive pieces of parchment and three knives. He gave each student a knife and a piece of parchment, and he explained what to do.

"You must drop three drops of blood onto the parchment for the past five hundred years, and another drop for every five hundred years you wish to go back. The initial three drops of blood and five hundred years will cost 100 Galleons, and every added drop of blood will be an extra 50," Griphook explained, and Harry and Neville quickly told Hermione that they could pay for her, to which she was embarrassedly grateful for.

Neville went first this time, and he dropped five drops of blood, to see back 1500 years of ancestors. The timid boy was very surprised when Griphook gaped at the results, as near the top of the parchment read: _'Helga Hufflepuff.'_ Neville nodded embarrassedly and told them, "Yeah, I'm related to Helga Hufflepuff."

"And it seems that you are the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Hufflepuff, as well as Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom," the goblin informed the astonished boy. The goblin held out a ring with the Hufflepuff crest on it, and another ring that looked rather similar, but with some differences, and told the boy, "These are the Heir rings of Hufflepuff and Longbottom, you will wear them until you become a Lord of both Houses at age seventeen and wear the Lord rings."

Neville nodded in understanding and placed both of the rings on – the Longbottom one on his right ring finger, and the Hufflepuff one on his right middle finger – and Hermione quickly picked up her knife and dropped five drops of blood herself. She didn't want Harry and Neville to spend too much money on her, but Harry insisted that they all use five drops of blood. All of them were once again astonished at the name of _'Rowena Ravenclaw'_ near the top of the piece of parchment. The goblin handed Hermione the ring with the Ravenclaw crest, and she placed it on her right ring finger as Griphook told her the same things that he did for Neville.

Eventually, it was Harry's turn, and he dropped the five drops of blood onto his piece of parchment. When names such as _'Godric Gryffindor'_ and _'Ignotus Peverell'_ showed up, Harry knew that something was up.

 **A/N: The time travel won't happen until next chapter, as well as the different families that Harry is from, but it's kind of obvious. Sorry if any of you are disappointed, but don't worry, I'll post the next chapter soon, so at least you get that!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It took some brainstorming but I'm really excited for this story! I'm already in love with it! Oh, and also, this is obviously a Harry/Tom story, I love those! Anyways, see you next chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**


	2. The Ring of Time

_**Chapter 2:**_ _ **(3225 words)**_

The goblin handed Harry four rings, all of them being Lord rings, as he was proven an adult by magic and could be the Lord of all of the Houses. "You were the Heir to the Noble House of Potter, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor, and the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell, even though everyone thought that the line was extinct," the goblin told Harry, who didn't even seem all that surprised, while Hermione and Neville were gaping at Harry, the parchment, and the four rings.

"How are you so calm about this?" Neville asked in great confusion, and Harry could only shrug.

"Crazy stuff always happens to me, so why not this?"

Hermione paused for a moment to consider this, "I guess it's true, but really! A true Gryffindor, huh? And you wielded Gryffindor's sword too! Maybe that's why you could summon it, because it's rightfully yours?"

Harry nodded, "That's makes sense."

"Okay, how is no one freaking out about the 'Peverell' part?" Neville asked the other two, and Harry and Hermione raised an eyebrow.

The goblin explained for the two muggle-raised students, "There is a story, similar to a muggle fairy-tale, where three brothers outsmart Death and in return, Death gives them an object each: the Elder Wand, a wand that will always win against another wand if used by its master; the Resurrection Stone, a stone that partially brings back the dead; and the Invisibility Cloak, a cloak that perfectly hides its master, and reflects minor spells too. All other cloaks lose their invisibility over a year or two, but it is rumoured that this cloak never loses its invisibility."

The three friends shared a glance. This sounded an awful lot like Harry's cloak, and they assumed that the story is about the Peverell brothers, and the brother that was gifted with the Invisibility Cloak was Ignotus Peverell.

Neville continued the story from the goblin, "The first two brothers eventually died, the master of the Elder Wand being killed in his sleep, and the master of the Resurrection Stone killing himself after partially bringing back the woman he wanted to marry before she died. The dead don't belong in the mortal world though, and she was very upset, so he killed himself with longing so he could be with her. The master of the Invisibility Cloak, however, outsmarted Death, and when it became time for the brother to die, he greeted Death as an old friend and an equal, and he died. Before he died, though, he gave his eldest son the Invisibility Cloak."

"So, this story is about the Peverell brothers?" Hermione asked, and the goblin responded.

"It is rumoured to be about them, yes."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully, and Harry nodded as well, "Well, it makes sense, as I have an object similar to that, so yes, I do think that the story is about the Peverell brothers."

The goblin looked on with interest, but Neville shook his head at the goblin, who nodded in understanding. He did not wish to lose good customers by pushing them too hard. Humans were always touchy. Griphook gave Harry the four rings, and Harry put them on – the Potter ring on his right ring finger, the Peverell ring on his right middle finger, the Black ring on his left middle finger, and the Gryffindor ring on his left index finger. He was amused that the Black and the Gryffindor rings were next to each other, almost as if a kind of revenge for Sirius' horrible upbringing. Also, he did not wish to be mistaken as engaged or married – while Hermione and Neville looked further at their family trees.

Once the three were done with whatever they were doing, the goblin asked if there was anything else, and Harry thought for a moment before asking, "May I use a portkey to get to Potter manor?"

The goblin nodded and disappeared past the door at the back once more, before appearing with half a teacup, worn down with scratched all over it, and half of it broken off. Perfect. "The word to say is on the parchment connected to it."

Harry smiled and nodded, before the three friends walked back outside of Gringotts. Before they went to check out one of the Potter manors, the three friends went to Ollivander's to get Neville a wand. He eventually found one, the length was 11 inches, the wood type was black walnut, and the core was unicorn tail hair.

When they walked out, Harry read the parchment and grabbed the other two student's wrists before whispering at the broken teacup in his pocket, "Loyalty," and they teleported.

"Prongslet! You could've given us a second's warning!" bashed Hermione at Harry, who was wearing a sheepish smile.

"But, Dove!" Harry tried to convince her, and he gestured at the gorgeous white marble pillars and walls of Potter manor, which hid behind an incredibly strong ward. Only those of Potter blood could enter it, and those they accepted. It was still long into the night, most likely two in the morning, but all three of them were used to not being able to sleep. "You understand how much I couldn't wait! And anyways! Look how incredible it is! This is where I could live!"

Hermione's eyes softened for a moment, before she smacked Harry's arm, "Still, one second of warning would have been appreciated!"

"You can say that again," mumbled Neville, who was spread out on the floor as he had fallen when the portkey transported them to Potter manor. Harry almost vomited too, as he always felt sick with wizarding travel, but Hermione was, for some reason unknown to him, perfectly fine.

Harry winced and sighed, "Yeah, yeah. Sorry."

Hermione and Harry helped Neville up, and the boy patted Harry's back, "It's fine. If I learnt that I could see something of my parents, I would go racing as well." Harry gave him a guilty smile, as he was now feeling bad. Still, the ebony-haired boy was glad that someone understood how he felt.

The three friends ventured inside, and the second Harry stepped foot inside the manor, three house elves with white servant's outfits with red and gold accents apparated in front of the three friends. The one in the centre cried, "Master has returned!"

"Uh, yes? I assume that's me? And you can just call me Harry," the ebony-haired boy told the elf with a smile as Hermione giggled at the memories of Dobby, hiding her smiling face behind her hands. Neville raised an eyebrow, only having met Dobby once, but he still smiled as he remembered the bizarrely dressed elf.

"Thank you, Master Harry, sir," the house elf was almost in tears of happiness by then, and Harry ignored it, knowing that it would just get worse if he tried to help. From experience, too. Damn it, Dobby.

"What's your name, and what's your job?" he asked the house elf who spoke.

"I is Tiddly, Master Harry, sir, and I is being head elf," Tiddly replied, and Harry nodded. "I's be making sure that all elves be doing their jobs, sir."

"Thank you, Tiddly." She was honestly in tears by then and Neville started laughing behind his hands himself. "And you two?" Harry asked the other two elves.

A male one stepped forward and bowed, "My name is being Falloe, and I is being Deputy head elf, when Tiddly is being ill, Master Harry, sir."

The other one, a girl this time, stood next to Falloe and bowed as well, "I is Taffy, and I is being the elf looking after baby elves, Master Harry, sir. I's be teaching them how to house elf! Oh, I hasn't seen you since you's be being a baby, Master," she added fondly at the end. "Oh, how's you has grown!"

Harry's eyes softened, and he grinned and nodded, "Thank you very much for telling me. Now, could one of you give me and my two friends a tour, or if you are all too busy, could you ask another elf to show us around?"

The three house elves popped away, and only Taffy reappeared a few seconds after, "I is back, Master Harry, sir. I isn't too busy, so I can be showing you around now. Falloe is being the elf in charge of baby house elves while I's be showing you around, sir."

Nodding, Harry smiled, "Thank you, Taffy." It was early in the morning when Harry found himself with only his two friends in the kitchens as they ate some cereal, the house elves busy doing whatever house elves do when they aren't being ordered around. Hermione kept complaining about the Dursleys and their habit of not feeding Harry. She could be quite ferocious when she wanted to be, so Neville sat next to Harry in silent comfort and the two boys ate silently as Hermione ranted aloud for them to hear.

Eventually, the three friends finished eating, and Harry raced around the castle. His friends were right behind him, and they eventually found themselves in a cosy room. There was a massive tapestry at one end of it on the wall. It wasn't a very big room; there were three red armchairs that looked very similar to the armchairs in the Gryffindor common room, and there was a small table in the middle of them.

As he approached the tapestry, he noticed that it was a family tree… _his_ family tree, looking exactly the same as the one he saw in Gringotts. On it, he saw his father and mother: ' _James Potter'_ and ' _Lily Potter nee Evans'._ He followed the line above his father to see is grandparents: ' _Charlus Potter'_ and ' _Dorea Potter nee Black'_. Wait, he was actually related to Sirius! Awesome!

He and his friends spent a few hours in the room, going over everything they had learnt, and Hermione and Neville kept calling Harry 'Lord Potter-Black-Peverell-Gryffindor' in an over-the-top snooty voice. After they had gone through everything, Harry stood quickly, and regretted it as he groaned in pain from being in the same position for so long. Hermione and Neville laughed but groaned themselves when they stood up, and Harry grinned.

A suitable revenge.

They went exploring again, until they found a room filled with artefacts. It was very interesting, and each had a plaque that informed whoever was reading it about what the artefact was, what it did, and how to use it if it was in fact useable.

They spent an hour reading them all, until Harry came across a strange ring. It was pure white, much like the marble that the manor is made of. It had a jewel on it, which seemed to change colours in the light, from a dark pine green to a bright emerald green and back to a dark pine green, and so on. Like the fire of his flames, and his magic. "Guys, look."

Hermione and Neville came to stand on either side of Harry, and they looked at the ring with interest. Hermione went for the plaque with information on it, and she read it aloud for the other two boys.

 _The Ring of Time_

 _A long-forgotten artefact that originates from the Peverell's time._

 _A ring that sends the user back in time, the ring is made from time flames, a finicky material that can twist  
time, which is found in the same place where time sand comes from, the substance used to make time turners._

 _Only a Potter can wear the ring, though they can bring people to the future and the past with them, as long  
there is skin contact. The word to say is 'Praeteritum', meaning 'Past' in Latin, and then you think of the date  
and time of your wanted destination as much as possible._

"Awesome!" Harry grinned. "We could do so much with this ring! We could go back in time and save my parents! And- and save the Longbottoms too! And everyone that died in the war!" Neville looked excited himself, but Hermione put a stop to that quickly.

"Wait a second, guys. I'm sorry, but there's a fine print at the bottom."

"What does it say?" Neville asked her, and she read it out for them once more.

 _Fine Print: The ring sends the user to an alternate universe which is exactly the same but in the past or future,  
so to speak. You may travel back to this universe, of course, by saying, 'Futurae'. The ring will know that you  
mean the time you originally came from. When a day passes in the other universe, a day passes in your original  
one. When you return, you will be the age that you are supposed to be in this universe. _

"That's…" Neville began.

"Really weird," Harry finished for him. He then deflated, "I guess there's no 'saving the parents' then." He sighed, but then an idea implanted itself in his brain. He might not be able to save any deaths so far, but maybe… just maybe, he could prevent any future deaths? By going very far back in time… say, fifty years? It was worth a shot, to bring back Tom Marvolo Riddle and use his help to defeat the current Voldemort. Using time travel is a funny business, but then again, this war is already pretty messed up.

The worst that could happen would either be that they would die in the past and no one would know where they went or how they died, or they would return with Riddle who decided that Voldemort was cooler, and then Harry would have to battle two Tom Riddles.

He shivered. What a nightmare!

Still, he shrugged. It's not like he was going to survive to the end of his Seventh Year anyway. And it's not like Dumbledore has any better plans, the old coot.

Hermione and Neville waited for Harry to tell them what he was thinking, sensing that he had an idea. Eventually, he turned to them, "We might not be able to stop any deaths from the past, but maybe we can prevent any future deaths?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the sheepish grin on Harry's face, "Harry James Potter, what are you thinking?"

He coughed, nervous at the suspicious tone in her voice, but he pushed on, "I _mean,_ what if we could prevent any future deaths by going very far back? Say… oh, I don't know…"

She raised an eyebrow, "Fifty or so years?" Neville's eyes widened at the implication of what Harry was trying to do.

"D-do you think that we could really do it?" he stuttered at Harry, and the ebony-haired boy nodded at the question, not seeming very confident in it himself. Harry exhaled a shaky breath, and turned to them both.

"It's the right thing to do, even if it's not the easiest. We could bring Riddle back to this universe and he could help us with the search for horcruxes," Harry told them, and they all nodded. He raided Dumbledore's memory cabinet last time he was there on his own, and he learnt all about the orphanage, and the rumours of him being a mudblood, and his rise to power. He also saw Dumbledore's suspicions of him making multiple horcruxes, and Harry had to agree, Riddle thirsted for immortality. He, of course, told Hermione and Neville.

Neville nodded, "You're right. As frightening as it is, this is for the," Neville then started to giggle a little, "the Greater Good."

Harry grinned at Dumbledore's words, as Hermione smiled herself, though she rolled her eyes, "I'm _pretty_ sure that this was not what Dumbledore had in mind when he thought of that. Still, it's true." Harry nodded.

"Let's do it!" Harry grinned, and he placed on the ring, as he had Potter blood. The fire of his magic seemed to connect to the ring in ways he didn't think possible, and raising his hand and pushing out some magic, he created his usual bright green emerald fire.

"Wait, Harry!" Hermione stopped him, "I think that we should bring the Marauder's map, and your invisibility cloak too."

Harry paused for a moment, and turned around to give Hermione a hug, "Good idea, Dove!"

He then promptly raced out of the room to the corridor and he pulled out his shrunken and weightless trunk, before using his magic to unshrink it once more, grinning at being able to use magic. Hermione and Neville ran to where he was, and Neville asked, "Harry? Why'd you run away?"

"I needed to unshrink my trunk, and if I'm too close to you, and your wands, the Ministry will know where we are," Harry explained, and the other two friends nodded in understanding. Harry turned to his trunk and opened it before pulling out his map and his cloak. He shoved them into his pocket, and he wandlessly and wordlessly conjured up some parchment and a quill, "Here, Dove. Could you write a letter for Dumbles and his stupid Order of Headless Chickens."

Hermione forced down a giggle at the name of the Order she told Harry and Neville about. Dumbledore ordered her not to tell Harry anything about it, but she didn't listen. She couldn't say anything on the location of it, since there was a charm on it so that only Dumbledore could tell someone the location. She quickly wrote a note for their scheming headmaster and passed it to Harry and Neville so that they could proofread it.

 _Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,_

 _I wish to tell you and the Order that I shall be busy this Summer, and I might not even be back in time for the beginning  
of the school year, though I will try my best to make sure that such a thing does not happen. Harry and Neville will be  
accompanying me as well, and we are going to Eastern Europe in search of help against Voldemort. Many don't believe  
Harry about Voldemort's return in England, but many do overseas, so I will see you in a few months' time._

 _If it does not trouble you to do so, could you please tell Sirius and Remus of our whereabouts as we would not want for  
them to worry. That is all, professor,_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Neville Longbottom_

"Very nice," Harry nodded his approval. He ran to the nearest window and called for Hedwig, who appeared soon after. "Hi, girl. Could you please send this to Dumbledore, and if that's impossible, since he might be somewhere with wards against owls, get it to Sirius or Remus."

Hedwig hooted and flew off.

"Harry? Should we do it now?" Neville asked, and Harry grinned and nodded.

"I'll give you a second's warning this time," and he grinned even harder at Hermione and Neville's groans, "Hey, I hate portkeys too."

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Neville smiled faintly, and he grabbed Harry's left wrist, as the plaque said that skin contact was necessary. Hermione grabbed his wrist on the other side, and with everyone in place, Harry whispered the words necessary to take them to the past.

" _Praeteritum_ ," and the three friends thought, as desperately and as powerfully as they could (and that was a lot), _'52 years ago.'_

 **A/N: Ta da! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll get onto the Animagus stuff soon enough, but they have to go through all of the 'Woah! We're in the past!' stuff and the 'Woah! It's a teenage Voldemort!' stuff. So, if you're looking forward to that, I'm sure that you're going to enjoy the next chapter.**

 **There's not much else to say other then that. It took a while to think of how exactly time passed on each universe, but I just went with 'it's the same on each side'. Other than all of that, I have no more to say.**

 **Enjoy!**


	3. Into the Past

_**Chapter 3:**_ _ **(1998 words)**_

Harry woke up in a bright and airy room, which was empty except for a few beds, Hermione on the one to his left and Neville on the one on his right.

He could tell from the stones of the wall that he was at Hogwarts, and if he couldn't tell from the stone, the overwhelming bucket loads of magic cascading off of the walls and floors was enough of an inclination. He looked around and it just registered that he was… was in the infirmary at Hogwarts! How was he here? The plaque said nothing about where you end up. Harry glanced at the ring, as dark and light green as ever, and decided that this ring was _awesome_!

He sat up and was looking around when he jumped as he heard the door open, and the footsteps of a person. He turned to look at a middle-aged woman who seemed to have a lot of similarities with one of the chasers in the Gryffindor quidditch team, Katie Bell, back in his alternate universe.

The woman looked at him and seemed surprised to find him awake, "Hello, young man. Care to tell me how you and your two friends got all of these scars?"

Harry froze at the comment on scars, but when he looked down at his arms, he saw thin little golden lines running up and down his body. He glanced at Hermione and Neville and saw that they too had these scars. He didn't feel any different, he just looked awesome. Now, _these_ are scars! Not a little lightning-bolt on his forehead, though he will forever treasure those moments when it gave him immense pain. Yup, he liked these gold scars a lot better. He assumed that the scars were the price they had to pay for travelling to alternate universes, but it's not like he's going to tell the healer that, "Uhh, I have no idea, sorry."

She nodded and introduced herself, "Well, I'm Madam Bell, the medi-witch of this school. Do you know where you are?"

"Hogwarts," he stated immediately, and she nodded again.

"Well, I haven't seen you or your friends for all of the twelve years I've spent working here. What's your name?" she asked while casting what was likely to be diagnostic spells at him.

He froze once more, and thought for a second or two, before he caught sight of his Lord rings and smiled slightly in remembrance, "My name's Hadrian James Peverell." He didn't want to change his initials, anyway. "Everyone calls me 'Harry', though."

The medi-witch stared at him, astonished that a Peverell still survived, but then Harry heard Hermione moving in her sleep, seemingly waking up, "H-Harry?"

"I'm here, 'Mione. We're at Hogwarts," he told her, and he grinned as she shot right up from the bed.

"What?"

Harry grinned some more, and she rolled her eyes as the medi-witch began casting spells at her to see if she was okay or if she had any injuries. Luckily, that meant that she had forgotten to ask more about his name and check him for injuries, since he didn't want anyone to know about his own abuse. Honestly, how had Madam Pomfrey missed _that_?! Madam Bell asked Hermione, "And what's your name, dear?"

She froze as she raced to think of an answer, but Harry, having already thought of something, answered for her, "Her name's Hermione Granger, Madam Bell. And this here's her cousin, Neville Granger. We're all cousins, but I just have a different surname."

"Very well, dears," she began, "What's are your parent's names? We need to tell them that you're here."

"Oh, we-" Hermione began, but Harry cut her off.

"Our parents are dead. Have been since we were all babies. It's the war, you know," Harry shook his head, "It's awful, isn't it?"

The medi-witch nodded her head understandably and with pity as she rushed to Neville, who began to wake up himself. Hermione looked at him, confused at what war he was talking about. The only war she knew taking place in the early 40s was World War Two, but Harry mouthed, _'Grindelwald.'_ Of course! How could she have forgotten?! The Dark Lord before Voldemort was deep in war in the 40s, and would be defeated by Dumbledore in 1945. It should be 1942 at that point, a few more years to go then. She saw Harry mouth something else, like _'We have scars. Look.'_

She did look, and gasped audibly at the golden scars that littered her body. She looked at Harry and Neville and saw that they had them too. The medi-witch looked at Hermione and asked, "What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

"Hmm?" Hermione asked, "Oh, no, no, I just didn't see all of these scars before."

Neville raised an eyebrow and glanced at himself and his friends and gasped himself, "How…?"

Harry shrugged, "I really have no clue." In reality, he and the other two could hazard a guess that it was due to the time travel, but they wouldn't tell anyone. Even though it was to an alternate universe, they only had one shot at this, and he really didn't want to mess it up.

The medi-witch asked Neville, "What's your name, dear? Your cousins here said that it was Neville Granger."

Neville glanced at them, and at Harry's small barely-even-there nod, Neville nodded at the medi-witch, "That's right, Madam…?"

"Bell, dear. Now, since you have no parents, no home, and have no idea how you ended up here, I think it's best if you attend Hogwarts. At least for this year, and if you can't find any other solution, you can, of course, stay here. Would you like to attend Hogwarts, then?"

All three of them nodded rapidly, needing to be at Hogwarts for their plan to work. The medi-witch nodded and smiled, "Then, hopefully, I won't see much more of you in the coming few years. I'll go and fire-call Headmaster Dippet and Professor Dumbledore and tell them that you'll be attending Hogwarts this school year."

Harry refrained from grimacing and nodded again, though before she called the two wizards, Harry asked her, "Excuse me, Madam Bell?"

"Yes, dear?"

"What year is it? We haven't been keeping track," he politely explained, inventing everything he said on the spot.

"It's 1942," she responded, and he nodded gratefully. Tom Riddle would open the Chamber of Secrets later on in the school year, in 1943. He knew that much, and he could get in there himself, too. He just hoped that Riddle wouldn't be opening it anytime soon. They needed to hide in the background and work in secret. They'd stop Riddle from killing Myrtle and they'd do it without anyone figuring out that it was them. Of course, with all of their golden scars, everyone will look at them. Also, they've never seen him or his two friends before, and Hogwarts hardly ever has transfer students.

His plan is already crumbling down like burnt paper.

Suddenly, two men in robes walked out of the fireplace. Harry recognised them both, one of them being Dippet, one of the portraits in Dumbledore's office in the future, and Dumbledore was there too. He looked grandfatherly like normal – even though he seemed to be in his thirties or forties – though Harry noticed that he had a thoughtful calculating look in his eyes, which were still twinkling. Almost as if he was calculating how useful the three 'cousins' would be to him.

"My boy, who might you be?" Dumbledore asked merrily, though he seemed eager.

Harry made sure to not look directly into the man's eyes, knowing that the (not so) old coot could use Legilimency on his own students, the manipulative creep. "I'm Hadrian James Peverell, professor, sir."

"A Peverell, you say?" Dippet gaped. Everyone believed their line to be dead.

"Yes," Harry responded, and Dumbledore looked eagerly at him, probably because Dumbledore wanted the Deathly Hallows to himself, the selfish jerk. It was times like this when Harry was grateful for his father not being a carbon copy of his grandfather, so no one would suspect him of being related to a Potter.

"And you're friends' names, Mr Peverell?" Dumbledore asked, probably thinking that they could be useful to him as well.

"This is my cousin, Hermione Granger, and our other cousin, Neville Granger. They happen to share a surname," Harry told the man, avoiding eye contact as much as possible.

Hermione and Neville seemed to be catching on to what he was doing and avoided eye contact from Dumbledore as well. "Very well," Dumbledore replied. He seemed disappointed at the different surname, but they were all cousins, so it was possible that they all had a Deathly Hallow, and if not, they knew who did. Harry caught this look in his eyes, and sighed silently, though his 'cousins' noticed it. "And how did you get here, my boy?"

Harry felt like groaning at the stupid 'my boy' that Dumbledore used on anyone and everyone. It was just horrible, but he responded anyway, "We have absolutely no idea, sir. We fell asleep on night, and the next, here we are. And where did you find us?"

"Outdoors, right outside of the wards of Hogwarts. Our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor noticed you three unconscious and called us three," Madam Bell responded when it seemed like Dumbledore wasn't going to tell them.

Harry nodded, and Hermione told them, "I believe that we didn't receive our Hogwarts letters as we didn't live anywhere, we were always on the move." The three adults in the room nodded in understanding at the explanation, not having another one.

"Are you all magical?" Dumbledore asked. They all nodded, and he asked, "What blood?"

Harry felt like rolling his eyes. Dumbledore, the muggle loving fool who didn't believe in blood purity wished to know what blood they had. Still, Harry answered him, "A half-blood, professor. My father was a pureblood, and my mother was a muggleborn."

"I'm a muggleborn," Hermione spoke up.

"Neville told them, "I'm a half-blood as well. Both of my parents were half-bloods."

The three adults nodded once more, and Dumbledore asked, "Would you like to stay at Hogwarts? You would have to be sorted."

All three of them nodded again, and Dumbledore continued, "You can stay in the guest chambers here at Hogwarts, as it is dangerous out in the muggle world, and you don't have a home in the wizarding world."

Hermione turned to the then Transfiguration professor and innocently asked, "But what about all of the other Hogwarts students who go to the muggle world for the Summer, since they have no choice? Isn't it dangerous for them?"

"Of course not, my dear girl. I only send those who I know will be in safe areas to the muggle world," Dumbledore replied, but Harry caught the slight hint in his voice which suggested untruthfulness, but Harry didn't need it to know that Dumbledore's answer wasn't honest in the slightest. Tom Riddle was out there, in the middle of London, where he could be utterly bombed, and Dumbledore was here saying that everyone was absolutely safe. Honestly, it's like he's trying to create a Dark Lord.

Wait… maybe that's exactly what he wants! He'd talk to Hermione and Neville about this when they're alone later.

For now, he should look see the direction that the guest quarters are. Though, he didn't have to worry, as could always just ask Hogwarts, who used the magic in the air to guide him, like more powerful instincts inside of him. It was very useful, too. He never got lost, the stairs hardly ever went against his wishes, and the magical creatures on school grounds accepted him. Even the centaurs! Probably due to being the Heir of one of the Four Founders, though he was Lord Gryffindor now.

… He couldn't wait to see Riddle's face when he tells him that little fun fact.

 **A/N: Ahhh, I can't either, Harry, I can't either.**

 **Anyways, I'm sorry I haven't been posting for two months, the reason is explained a few other stories but if you can't be bothered to go read those to find out, I'll just tell you now: Word stopped working so I've been writing things down in Notepad, and on paper in real life (real life? What's that?), but now it's fixed and I can finally do things!**

 **I hope you liked this chapter. I'm sorry it's not as long as the others, but my inspiration ended here for today, and I needed to post. Expect a longer chapter next time. Anyways, onto completely different matters, who do you want Hermione and Neville to end up with? Each other? Someone from the past? Someone from their own time for when they return? Please do tell me via reviews, I'd love to hear your opinions on it!**

 **Enjoy!**


	4. The Slytherin Gryffindor

_**Chapter 4:**_ _ **(3316 words)**_

The next month and a half passed surprisingly quickly for Harry and his two time travelling companions.

He talked to them about how Dumbledore was making Dark Lords just so that he could defeat them and get the fame, power, and money that came with that. Honestly! Couldn't he see what he was doing to the world and to those affected by the Dark Lord, including the Dark Lord himself (or, y'know, the Dark Lady herself).

Harry, Hermione, and Neville decided that, even though they were supposed to go into Fifth Year back in their own universe, they decided to go to Sixth Year, since Tom Riddle was in that year at the moment, and it would be a lot more helpful if they were in the same year as him. Also, McGonagall and Sprout would be in that year so it was the best one, really.

They all decided to take Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy, so that they would hopefully have all of their classes with someone they knew, except those they would have with the one house that none of them were in, as Harry believed that they would all be in different houses.

He got to meet all of the professors, and found that Professor Merrythought, the DADA professor, wasn't rubbish, like they all were back in his own time, not including Remus, since he's awesome. She was his favourite out of the professors, mainly because he didn't know any of the others, and because DADA was his absolutely favourite subject. He didn't talk about the subjects at all with the professors, just getting to see their teaching style. He didn't want to cheat at all, and he didn't want them to know how experienced he was at magic, especially DADA. Also, he didn't want all of the teachers to gape at him when they find out his name in front of the students, so he met them earlier.

Harry tried to stay away from Dumbledore, who hadn't approached them about the Deathly Hallows yet, but Harry was sure that it would be soon enough.

He was pretty sure that the Sorting hat would sort him into Slytherin (even though he was the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor) so maybe that would get Dumbledore to stop trying to get his Invisibility Cloak. Then again, it could just make him work harder to get it since he could be afraid that an 'evil' Slytherin was in possession of it.

At that moment, he knew that Grindelwald had the Elder Wand, and the Resurrection Stone was in the little shack of Tom Riddle's ancestors. Also, Charlus Potter probably had the Invisibility Cloak, as well as Harry. It's best if he just tells Dumbledore that he didn't have any of the Deathly Hallows and he didn't know who had them, when the Transfiguration professor eventually manages to ask them about it.

Eventually, it was the first of September.

The three friends hadn't been sorted yet, since Dumbledore thought that it was best if they were sorted right after the First Years, and the three grudgingly agreed to it, even though they didn't want to. At least people would know their names, as Harry didn't want to deal with all of the students freaking out about his ancestors.

The three friends stood outside of the hall, hearing Dumbledore calling the names of the First Years. He was on the 'J's by then. Hermione looked to him and announced quietly, "I don't want to be sorted into Gryffindor."

Neville shook his head, "I don't either."

Harry didn't say anything, pretty sure that he would be sorted into Slytherin. He didn't know how his friends would react to that, but either way, he wanted for it to be a surprise. It would be pretty amusing, at the very least.

"I was thinking of going into Ravenclaw, since I _am_ her Heir," Hermione pondered out loud, and Neville nodded to her words.

"Yeah, I was thinking of going into Hufflepuff," Neville told them both, and Harry nodded supportively at the timid boy, who would soon no longer be a Gryffindor, of that Harry was sure. Of course, he didn't tell them that he wasn't planning on going to Gryffindor just because he was the Heir and it was his old house. He was definitely planning on messing with Tom Riddle though. It would be so fun! They probably assumed that he would go to Gryffindor. Oh, those poor, naïve, little children.

Eventually, Harry heard through the door with Dumbledore's voice, "This year, we will be accepting transfer students which shall be joining the Sixth Year. They will have to be sorted, so we will begin with: Granger, Hermione!"

Harry and Neville gave her encouraging looks and she nodded and walked through the doors. She sat on the stool and placed the hat on her head. After a few seconds, perhaps half a minute, the hat shouted out, "RAVENCLAW!"

There was clapping from all four tables, though slightly louder at the Ravenclaw table, at having received a new student. Dumbledore continued, "Granger, Neville!"

Harry patted Neville's shoulder, and the timid boy walked through the doors and sat on the stool himself, placing the hat on his head. It quickly shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!" and Harry swore that he heard some laughter from Slytherin and Gryffindor, and he sighed. Neville was not one to be underestimated, not with his elemental powers.

Eventually, after the laughter and clapping had finished, Dumbledore called out, "And finally: Peverell, Hadrian!"

There were several large gasps from the crowd, everyone thinking that the line was forever extinct. Unknowingly to Harry, Tom Riddle was asking Orion Black, who was sitting across from him, why everyone was acting so surprised, and after Orion explained that everyone thought that they were extinct, and that Peverell is a family even older than most of the Ancient and Most Noble Houses at that time, Tom looked on with interest at the frankly adorable, short, skinny boy who confidently walked up to the stool and sat down, pulling the hat on. The hat still fell over his eyes, and Tom smiled mentally, it was pretty adorable. Of course, he kept an emotionless expression on at all times.

Dumbledore placed the Sorting hat on his head, and Harry laughed mentally when the hat fell over his eyes like in First Year. _'So, what do we have here? A time traveller?'_

" _You can tell that I'm a time traveller? And it's more of an alternate universe traveller, really,'_ he added.

' _True, true. Still, I think that I was wrong in sorting you into the lions' house, like I did in your own universe. It doesn't suit you, I don't know_ what _I was thinking! Although you have unmeasurable courage, you pride yourself on the ability to stay alive more, and your sneakiness too,'_ the hat told him, and Harry hummed mentally in agreement.

' _I guess it's obvious which house I'll be in, huh? Oh, well. I was expecting this from the beginning, anyways,'_ Harry commented.

' _And it seems that you are were correct. Very well, it seems that you, Harry Potter, are destined to be in,'_ "SLYTHERIN!"

Harry lifted the hat off of his head and gave it back to Dumbledore. He hid it very well, but Harry could tell that the man was disappointed that Harry wasn't sorted into Gryffindor. Oh well, at least he'd have easy access to a certain Tom Riddle, his plan the entire time. Hermione and Neville hid it rather well, but they looked as shocked as everyone else. The Heir of Gryffindor? A Slytherin? It was absolutely hilarious and ironic and Harry wished that he could burst out into laughter without looking ridiculous.

However, he wanted to make a good impression on the Slytherins, so he placed on his emotionless mask and walked to the edge of the table, since Hogwarts was telling him to do so. Apparently, there's a hierarchy in Slytherin. That's pretty cool, Harry had no choice but to admit at least that. It meant that he had no rank in Slytherin, and he had no allies, so he sat on the outside. He was sure that that **(A/N: Why is this a thing?!)** would change soon. However, at that moment, he was without a rank.

He didn't mind much, he still wasn't sure how to react if Riddle confronts him, since he's the King of Slytherin. So, he just decided to settle on the very Gryffindor plan of winging it as he goes. Oh well, he _was_ the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor, it was the best possible excuse he could ever hope for.

Though he didn't show it, he saw Tom Riddle looking at him out of the corner of his eyes, and Harry felt like smirking. This is exactly what he wanted.

Eventually, the feast ended, and there were no other announcements other than that Forbidden Forest was still Forbidden. Harry stood up and when he turned around, be saw a Tom Riddle standing in front of him, trying his best to look emotionless and uninterested, but Harry could see that he was curious about him and his name. Now it was his chance to make Riddle want to know about him, so he could get closer to the future Voldemort. The unknowing Heir of Slytherin introduced himself, "Good evening. My name is Tom Riddle, a Sixth Year prefect. I'll be showing you the way to the Slytherin common room."

Although Harry already knew where it was, he nodded and introduced himself as well, "Well, I'm Hadrian Peverell. Everyone calls me 'Harry', though."

Tom nodded in acknowledgement as the two boys made their way to the Slytherin common room side by side. If Tom noticed how Harry wasn't following him, but was just walking with him, he didn't say anything about it. Riddle asked, "So, Hadrian, what year are you in?"

Harry knew that Tom heard Dumbledore saying that he and his friends would go to Sixth Year, but Harry assumed that Tom was asking since he was a full head taller than Harry, "Sixth Year."

Nodding, Tom continued the conversation, "As I said before, my name is Tom Riddle. I am the King of Slytherin, and on the second day of every school year, we have a… tournament of sorts. In it, Slytherins duel for a chance to get to the top of the hierarchy, and I am at the top."

Harry nodded understandably, "That sounds interesting. Don't tell me that I'm not participating because I'm new."

Tom rolled his eyes, "Of course not, you will have to fight. At least tell me that you can use your wand, Hadrian."

Harry snorted, "I meant new to Slytherin, Marvolo, not new to magic."

Tom raised an eyebrow curiously, though he hid it well, "And how did you know my middle name when I didn't tell you?"

Harry looked at him and gave him a soft smile. Hardly anyone smiles like that to him, they either wear frightful smiles, pitiful smiles, 'professor' smiles, or lovestruck smiles. This smile though, this smile was nothing like he'd ever seen. He decided that he rather liked it. "I know rather a lot about you. Or, well, I should say your ancestry."

Tom froze in shock, "What?"

Harry smirked, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Tom responded coolly, and the two continued to walk to the Slytherin common room. "I'm just wondering how you would know about such a thing."

Harry shrugged, "I like family trees." He said no more on the subject, and the two continued to talk about the professors and the school subjects – though Tom would much prefer to talk about his ancestors instead – until they arrived at the Slytherin common room, a few minutes before the rest of the house.

Tom announced the password, "Basilisk."

Harry shook his head fondly at the memories – trying to forget the parts when he kept almost dying and when the school avoided him for months – and then he remembered where he was and who he was with. He pretended that he had no idea what it was, and he acted confused. He then decided to randomly say, "You know, I read somewhere that if you spoke in Parseltongue, the door would open no matter what you say. Handy if you forget the password, I admit."

"Parseltongue? Yes, that would make sense, Salazar Slytherin was a Parseltongue, he would do that for his blood," Tom responded, forgetting momentarily that he himself was a Parselmouth. He hadn't spoken it for a good few years.

Harry nodded as the two boys entered the common room. When the door opened once more, Tom didn't move away from Harry, and he looked at everyone as if saying, _'He is not to be harmed, and if he is, there will be severe consequences. He is MINE'_. As possessive as it is, Harry was rather grateful, as being a half-blood in Slytherin wasn't very fortunate. Unless, of course, you were Tom Riddle.

Harry endured a long welcoming speech from Professor Slughorn, the potions professor, and the Slytherin Head of House. Most of it was just him proclaiming about all of the incredibly famous people he knows. Harry had met him before, and decided that he didn't really like the man that much, but anything was better than Snape breathing down his back, at the very least. Slughorn had tried to… 'collect' him like he did with others, but Harry didn't really want that much, so he kept politely refusing whenever the subject came up.

Soon, he, Tom, and Orion Black were walking to one of the dorms, since the other boys roomed in a different dorm room. "Hello, I'm Hadrian Peverell, though everyone calls me 'Harry'. Well, not Riddle, but everyone else, sure," Harry smiled at Orion, who was a carbon copy of Sirius, just a healthy, privileged, pureblood-looking version of Sirius. Tom rolled his eyes behind Orion, and Harry grinned.

The boy might have caused Sirius serious **(A/N: Okay, I did not mean to do this. I only realised after reading through it after I had finished writing and decided to just keep it because why not? :D)** trauma, and a horrible childhood, but Harry knew that it was mainly his mother, and not his father, that caused it. Orion seemed nice enough now though, so Harry attempted to start a conversation with the pureblood.

"Orion Black, Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black," Orion told Harry with a smile, "Nice to meet you, Harry."

"Likewise," Harry smiled. He then paused for a moment, "I'm new to all of this, so am I supposed to announce that I'm the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell when I meet someone? Because no offence to purebloods and all, but that's quite a mouthful." Harry grinned at Tom's nod of agreement behind Orion.

Orion laughed a bit and responded, "I actually asked my mother that when I was younger, and she just told me that it announced who you were, and that if I couldn't handle a mouthful of that, I couldn't handle life as a pureblood and that I should just be disowned and should move out right then and there." His laughing, happy face fell slightly, "Ehh, she's not the nicest mother, but she's still my mother, you know?"

Harry shrugged, "My parents died when I was a baby, but I understand that if I ever met my mother, I would love her no matter what."

Tom scoffed from the other side of the room, and Harry smiled slightly at such a non-Voldemort action from the teenage boy, "Love is weak, Hadrian. You should learn that now."

Rolling his eyes, Harry asked, "But why would I do that? Love has saved my life… what?" He paused to count his fingers, "Twice? Three times?"

Tom paused, and Harry knew that he just said something of importance. Tom's greatest fear – though he would never admit it – was death, so for love to save Harry's life so many times, Tom's interest was attracted. "And how is that possible?"

Harry shrugged, "My mother sacrificed herself for me because she loved me, and turned on some old blood ritual that saved my life. It's pretty cool now that I think about it, but it still sucks that I have no family. The second time, I wanted to give up and die right then and there, but love kept me going, and stopped me from giving up, because I loved my friends too much to let them die. The third time, it was pretty much the same as the second one." Harry paused for a moment as Tom and Orion took in his words, "Why have I had so many life or death situations?"

Orion raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "How many have you had, then?"

Harry counted his fingers again, and mumbled, "Eleven, twelve, thirteen…" and then he spoke in a clear voice to the two other boys in the room, who were waiting patiently, with curiosity, "Around fourteen or fifteen, really." All of the large events that usually happened at the end of the year was included in them, but he also included Remus werewolf-ing out on him, all of the Tournament events, and in his First Year, when he took on the male mountain troll and became friends with Hermione. There were many more minor life or death situations over the years, and he counted the Dursleys as three or four situations, though it really should have been over a thousand.

Tom and Orion looked at Harry as if they expected him to just keel over a drop dead right there. Harry honestly wouldn't be surprised if that happened. "Wait… really?" Orion gaped, and Harry flushed and nodded slowly, not noticing Tom's own blush over how adorable Harry was when he flushed like that. "H-how?"

Harry shrugged, "I have no clue, but I guess I'm a lion in snake skin, sometimes."

"Yeah, I can see that," Orion smirked, and then he grinned brilliantly at Harry, "So, how's Hogwarts faring for you so far?"

Harry rolled his eyes with a smile, "I've only been here for a month or so, and that wasn't even in classes, though I was in the library quite a lot," harry mentioned, knowing that Tom appreciated knowledge, "I didn't want to fall behind, or make a fool of myself. Everyone will be looking out for things I do, since my name's…" Harry winced.

"Quite famous," Orion finished for the ebony-haired boy, and he nodded, "Well, we can't be late for classes tomorrow morning, they just had to begin school on a Tuesday, didn't they?"

Harry snorted and nodded before wandlessly and wordlessly transfiguring his robes into pyjamas (though they were too big by a few sizes. What could he say? He had gotten used to sleeping in Dudley's absolutely massive pyjamas), not wanting to go showing just anyone his 'Dursley souvenirs', as he had dubbed his scars. Well, Sirius' father, and the Dark Lord aren't just anyone, but still, they're practically strangers, although Harry knew quite a lot about Tom, and not so much about Orion. At least in his own universe.

Orion was too busy putting on his own pyjamas to notice, and Tom had rolled over in his bed, having already transfigured his pyjamas (with his wand. Hah, Harry's more magically powerful!). Probably to not show the stranger how he was a malnourished, poverty-stricken orphan. Oh, just wait until he realised how many Galleons were in the Slytherin vault!

Harry soon fell asleep, thinking of telling Hermione and Neville tomorrow morning about the progress he had made. Maybe he'd talk to Tom a bit too, he was actually pretty cool. Y'know, for a Dark Lord.

 **A/N: That last line was sarcasm, if any of you were wondering. Harry knows perfectly well that Tom had done nothing wrong yet at this point, other than terrorising the other kids at the orphanage.**

 **Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, and I'm sorry this is going so slowly. This is only the first day of the school year and it's only chapter four! I mean, a month or two has passed in the story already, but still, that part wasn't very detailed.**

 **Enjoy!**


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